Robert Brokamp

Next up, mixed signals from the job market.

Let's start with the good news.

On February 11th, the U.S.

Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that nonfarm payrolls increased by 130,000 for January, more than twice the number economists were expecting, and the unemployment rate dropped to 4.3%.

Also, discouraged workers and those holding part-time positions for economic reasons declined to 8%.

That said, most of the new jobs came from healthcare and social assistance.

In fact, without healthcare, the economy would have lost jobs over the past year, according to Moody's chief economist, Mark Zandi.

Last week, the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that job openings in December were at the lowest level since 2020.

And Schwab's Lizanne Saunders posted on social media a chart from Arbor Data Science which shows that the 12-week moving averages for Google searches on the terms unemployment insurance, filing for unemployment, and job boards have reached levels not seen since 2021.

And now the number of the week, which is $5.8 trillion.

That's how much more the US government will spend this year than it takes in as revenue from taxes and tariffs.

According to a report published this past week by the Congressional Budget Office, that amount of annual overspending is projected to grow to $6.3 trillion by 2036.

Of course, this just means that Uncle Sam will just have to keep on borrowing money.

According to the CBO, federal debt will increase from 101% of GDP this year to 120% in 2036, surpassing its previous high of 106% of GDP in 1946, right after World War II.

How a couple of young, newly married fools agreed to manage their finances when Motley Fool Money continues.

It's Valentine's Day, and there's nothing more romantic than talking about money with your significant other.

Well, maybe not, but it is important because the evidence is clear that financial acrimony can lead to marital disharmony.

For example, a study entitled Examining the Relationship Between Financial Issues and Divorce found that, quote, financial disagreements are stronger predictors of divorce relative to other common marital disagreements, end of quote.

Soon after my wife and I got married 26 years ago, we decided to make sure we were on the same financial page by writing what we called our financial manifesto, which we then published as an article on full.com.

Here to talk about what was in it and how much we actually stuck to it is my wife, Dr. Elizabeth Brokamp, who is a licensed professional counselor, a professor of clinical mental health counseling, and the mother of four wonderful kids.